Verdict expected on May 19 in Kyaukseik villagers’ two-year terrorism trial

By DMG 05 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
5 May 2022, Ponnagyun 

A verdict in the case of five men from Kyaukseik village, Ponnagyun Township, and nearby who were detained and charged on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA) will be delivered at the trial’s next hearing on May 19, according to defence lawyer U Kyaw Nyun Maung. 

Prosecution and defence lawyers presented their closing arguments by letter to the Sittwe District Court on Thursday, he told DMG. 

A total of 38 people from Kyaukseik village and its vicinity were detained by the military on April 19, 2020. Thirty-three were released the following day but the other five remained in custody and were subsequently charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law for alleged links to the AA ethnic armed group. 

A video of the five villagers being beaten during interrogation by Myanmar military soldiers on board a naval vessel was shared widely on social media in May of 2020. 

The five men are Ko Nyi Nyi Aung, Ko Aung Myo Lin, and Ko Maung Chay, all 24 years old and from Kyaukseik village; Ko Min Soe, 38, from Ponnagyun town; and Ko Kyaw Win Hein, 22, from Zeebingyi village in Mrauk-U Township. 

They have been on trial for nearly two years, with family members expressing frustrations and dismay about repeated delays to the legal proceedings. 

“They were brought to trial today, but then taken back to prison without asking them any questions. I could not see my son today and could not give him food. I am really upset,” said Daw Ni Ni Aye, the mother of Ko Nyi Nyi Aung, on Thursday. 

Myanmar’s military regime pardoned more than 1,600 prisoners on April 17 to mark the Thingyan Buddhist New Year, but detainees facing trial for alleged AA ties were not among those released, according to human rights monitors.